I got an email from webs and they have some noro closeouts. Hurry, these went really quickly last time! They also have some big discounts in their summer sale section.

And skein lane is upping the discount on some yarns in their going-out-of-business sale. Excerpt from email below:

The sale continues on!  Starting Wednesday, August 2, all Rowan Yarns and all ladder/railroad yarns from all manufacturers are 1/2 off the regular price.  And remember everything in the store is on sale.

THE RETAIL OUTLET IS CLOSING AND YOU ARE THE FIRST TO KNOW. All of the merchandise, store fixtures, furniture, equipment, and draperies must be sold. So, this SPECIAL INVITATION is being extended to you, our loyal customers and our wonderful Skein Lane community to come to the store on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, July 27th through August 2nd, one week before this sale is publicly announced in the newspaper. Feel free to bring a friend or relative who
did not receive an invitation as your guest. You will have the FIRST OPPORTUNITY to shop and save on the entire inventory before many items are sold out.

I went Friday (the second day of the sale) and there was still a lot of yarn around, and 75% off of most embroidery and needlework items. Remarkably, the store was in better shape then when it was in business. the aisles were clear and there was room to shop. They chose their last few weeks of business to adopt a price tag system as opposed to the truly evil “list” of prices located in booklets that you had to hunt down. They also had staff that was actually working on preventing the skeins of yarn from getting all tangled up, and there were no baskets of tangled yarn in front of every shelf. i would have shopped here more often if it was this nice before! True to form, when I asked some of the staff how much an unmarked item was, I was given a different answer from everyone (and the cashier quoted the highest price of them all!).

As a wise shopper once told me, 20% off is barely a sale. You hardly get a discount after sales tax is added. Others were quick to point out that the sale coming up at stash (announced to their mailing list) starts at 30% off. All of the embroidery materials were 75% off, so i stocked up on embroidery floss. Now that is a discount.